The Crab Shack - a summer poem by Roger Zogolovitch

Inspired by a fine post-PechaKucha meal of crab meat and wine, Solidspace creative director Roger Zogolovitch muses on the pleasures of being beside the seaside

Oh I do like to be beside the seasideDown at the Crab ShackEspecially at lunch timeEating my favourite – crab with everything Where life gets shifted back to analogueWhere we eat analogue and we talk analogue

We plot and theoriseWe leave behind the fast-moving and clipped worlds of emails, agendas and focused presentationsWe take time outWe dream our dreams away and refresh our brainsAnd, of course, indulge in a little food and good conversation

We are transported to a place of memoryTo a place without rulesTo those structures that defy the planning processMade by chancePerched perilously on the seashoreMade by a combination of rescue and transformation

Where materials are as found and selected by eyeThe palette of planner-acceptable stuff has managed, miraculously, to have been washed out to seaWe arrive at the door, no bookingWe just hope they will be open and a table free

We sit in anticipation as we watch and smell the aroma of the boiling bisqueWe gaze at the mountains of crabs, the pots of musselsWe await our linguine served with just the right combination of crab, pasta and chilli flakes

The paper tablecloth, rough bread and tumblers with Rosé all arrive togetherWe anticipate the food to comeWe settle into debate in the good company of oppositesAll difficult peopleDiscussing the very nature of city, place and complexity

We savour the ‘as found’, the sculptural, the textural, the sinuous versusThe digital, the imposed, the ordered and the marshalled.We are told, that the world is better for being regulated, controlled, made exclusive, defined and polished,We just don’t believe it

In the crab shack the alternative view is positively encouraged.Just a little bit anarchic,We set only one rule, that our conversation should be interesting, and views conflict.No customer focus, just crab like, moving sideways, staring from those beady eyes.

Sideways movement is really an art, it has much to teach us.It offers an alternate visionIt shifts us away from the middle ground,It lets our minds go free, slipping from side to side, circling, considering alternatives, finding space for doubt

We turn the object around,We shift it aroundWe twist our own point of view.We seek something distinctly pleasing from under that stone, having a good old explore.It’s more of a ‘hey presto’, rather than a leap of imagination.

It’s the sideways glance.Suddenly we can become inspired by the object, the site, the opportunity from a new direction.The crab shack is the place to come to recall the pleasure of analogue. To be analogue after all is to be human.

The crab shack contains our collective memory of objectIt’s an emotional place having that patina of life and charm of the lived.It’s our chance of letting go of our minds. Daydreaming, getting lost, and losing track of time.

We are seeing and touching old timber, driftwood,Handling those familiar crab picks and crackers,We are surrounded by found objects presented in random order.The crab shack is in all of us, take a ticket and buy yourself some time.

Indulge in fantasy, in sideways thinking, in shape and texture.Witness light flashing off the sea,Indulge in the pleasure of just beingNo compromise necessaryDeliciously servedAllow yourself to fall for the mysteries of the sideways mind.

We suddenly become convincedWe ask why not make our life like thisAs we call for that all-important third bottleThis is real lifeAs we watch the sunset dropping slowly and the light softening in those last yellow rays

We want to dispel, to avoid those endless meetingsWhere project managers pick over milestones and deadlinesWe are beginning to hate those familiar two words ‘customer-focused’We don’t want our experiences pre-defined or forward flagged

We want to stay around, to sketch, to thinkTo draw, to designTo get back to the pleasure of lineOf mark-making, with pencil on traceWe need to believe in what we doWe need to believe in the crab shack

Come, come, you callThis is nothing but dream time,This is pure indulgence Wake up, you have the business to buildContacts to makeNetworks to buildDeadlines to meet You need focus, focus and more focus

You sweat a littleYou stare across the found objectsThe mounds of crabsThe next bottle of wine beckonsThe waitress beckonsYou recall that great line from American HustleSuch choices as you have are fucked-up, poisonous choices

You are tempted to change your life and follow your instinctEven for an hourTo stay in the Crab ShackTo drift, to shift, and to splash aboutThat’s whyI do like to be beside the seaside.

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